Scottish Graduate Programme in Economics

Finance in Scotland

Edinburgh is the financial services centre of Scotland and the fifth largest centre in Europe, with many large financial firms based there, including the Royal Bank of Scotland (the second largest bank in Europe), HBOS (owners of the Bank of Scotland), the Clydesdale Bank, Scottish Widows and Standard Life Insurance.

The Bank of Scotland has a history dating to the 17th century and is the oldest surviving bank in the United Kingdom. It is the only commercial institution created by the Parliament of Scotland (established 1695) to remain in existence.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is today the largest bank in Scotland, the second largest in the UK and Europe, and the fifth largest in the world by market capitalisation. Its shares have a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Scottish Widows Fund and Life Assurance Society opened in 1815 in what is now Chambers Street, Edinburgh. The formation of the society had been discussed from March 1812 with the purpose of providing for widows, sisters and other female relatives of fund holders so that they would not be plunged into poverty on the death of the fund holder. Its most famous customer was Sir Walter Scott who took out a policy in 1824. Scottish Widows used this fact in advertising to promote their products during the 1990s. However, they astutely didn't mention that the following year, Sir Walter Scott narrowly averted being declared bankrupt and died heavily in debt. Scottish Widows is now part of the Lloyds TSB Group.

Standard Life has been established for over 180 years, and currently over 7 million people rely on the company for their financial needs. They have assets under management which are worth more than the combined market value of British Aerospace, Reuters, Tesco, Cadbury Schweppes and Marks & Spencer. Standard Life operates within six key areas: UK Life & Pensions, Bank, Healthcare, Investments, Canada and International.

Glasgow is also one of Europe's top 20 financial centres and is home to many of the UK's leading companies.

The Clydesdale Bank was founded in Glasgow in 1838 and has been owned by the National Australia Group since 1987. The bank became part of National Australia's UK and Irish subsidiaries including Northern Bank in Northern Ireland; National Irish Bank in Ireland and the Yorkshire Bank (since 1990).

Finance in Scotland also features unique characteristics. Although the Bank of England remains the central bank for the UK Government, three Scottish corporate banks, the Bank of Scotland, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Clydesdale Bank, still issue their own banknotes. The Bank of Scotland was the first bank in the UK to print its own banknotes.